Alembic to debut therapeutic products

Dharmendrasinh Chavda, TNNNov 22, 2002, 03.27am IST

AHMEDABAD: Alembic is planning to launch a slew of products over the next few months as part of its strategy to focus on therapeutic areas of anti-bacterials, pain management, women healthcare, cardio-vascular, anti-diabetics and neutraceuticals.

To begin with, the company is expanding its anti-bacterial basket by launching some products in the new generation cephalosporin group of molecules. "Our strategy is to enter cephalosporins in a big way," he said. The cephalosporin market is estimated at Rs 900 crore and is growing at 13%.

The company has already lined up a molecule called cefatamite under the Altamet brand. According to Mr Barman, Altamet would be launched in a fortnight and the company is in talks with several pharma companies for a marketing tie-up.

Besides, the company has already launched a cephalosporin product under the Aldinir brand. Alembic is looking at launching four to five cephalosporin products in three years.

The company expects its cephalosporin stable to grow to Rs 30 crore over the next one-and-a-half years. As far as cardiovasculars and antidiabetic segments are concerned, the company is focusing on a condition known as Syndrome X, which is a set of conditions common in both cardiac and diabetic patients.

These conditions include a combination of glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension and insulin resistance.

"Because of a cluster of ailments, patients have to take a heavy dose of pills. We want to launch drugs aimed at lowering the pill burden," Mr Barman said.

In neutraceuticals, the company is focusing on products aimed specifically at segments like anti-diabetic and cardiovascular. According to Mr Barman, the company would launch three to four products shortly. The company already has products like protein supplement Protinule in the nutraceuticals segment.

Alembic is also strengthening its women's healthcare basket. It has lined up for launch a Transaemic Acid product for preventing blood loss and a clutch of iron preparations. Earlier this year, it launched Isovon, a product containing soy isoflavones for coping with menopausal symptoms. Other products include Folinal and Calci.

As per ORG-Marg data (September 02 MAT), Alembic ranks seventeenth and its retail formulations business is worth Rs 308 crore. The company is growing at 8.7% per annum.